I think you could probably get away with watching this one without knowing the original. There's not too much to know from the original that isn't covered in this.

TO be honest, the original had much less of a plot, basically certain models of replicants are banned on Earth (the ones from the first movie), only in off world colonies are they allowed at all as they rebelled.

What is a replicant? I heard some people talking and calling them Robots after the movie. While the analogy of a robot is close, they are the same as you and I, only they are genetically designed and "constructed" somehow and are "born" fully adult. The latest model (8) can be "programmed" for specific purposes and obey the owner. Even if the owner commands it to kill itself. Most people on Earth can't stand them and refer to them as "skinjobs".

In the original movie, Deckard (Harrison Ford's character) is a detective assigned to what is called the "Blade Runner" unit whose sole task is to track down and "retire" (kill) rogue replicants that are on Earth. The original tries to make you feel sympathetic to the replicants, but I never felt that way as they murdered many innocent people. They tend to lack normal human emotions like empathy and compassion. And the original models rebelled. The new models in the new movie are less likely to rebel and more obedient, at least... that is how they were designed.

The plot in the new one involves an aspect I never even considered to do with replicants, but I won't spoil it.

I hear a lot about how great the original was, and it was! But honestly, the original plot was fairly simple. Hunt down the replicants and retire them before they kill you and anyone else. That's it. The new movie has a more involved plot I felt. The graphics were fricken amazing I thought, a ruined Las Vegas (like what you seen in the trailer, only MUCH more in the movie of course) looked amazing I thought.

Anyhow... not giving away anything with this post. I loved it, but then again, I don't tend to be too critical of movies, I get serious about real life and tend to focus on the good points in a movie.

Edit: as a side note to the original, if you can see the original THEATRICAL VERSION, you will get MUCH more insight into what is going on. You may end up preferring the Director's Cut which is more commonly available these days, it cut out narration from Harrison Ford which was sort of like an old '50s detective show where you get the detective's thoughts while watching him. Some like it, some do not, I'll not bash either, I happen to like it. But you WILL get more information if you hear it, then maybe watch the Director's Cut and make up your own mind. Also the original ending is cut out of the Director's Cut (it's called a "CUT" for a reason), which I also preferred and I feel ties in closely and is important for this new movie for reasons I won't get into (so as not to spoil anything).

I have an old VHS tape of the original theatrical version. I won't buy the director's cut, can't stand it (again, not bashing you if you like it, I just personally do not, to each his own).

. Yeah, that's it. Actually, it is the name of the police unit assigned to "retiring" (killing) replicants (genetically designed people, created as full adults, often superior in strength or some other ability, used as a sort of slave labour) that are illegally on Earth (legal in offworld colonies). Called the "Blade Runner Unit".

The new movie is far superior over the original in my own opinion. Which is rare for a sequel.